JAMB HAS REDUCED 2013 CUT OFF MARK TO 170

I believe those that scored above 170but below 180 will read this post with lovely smile. There will be no admission for candidates who scored less than 170 in th last Universities Matriculation Examination (UME) following the decision of the Joint Committee on Admission to peg the National cut-off point at 170. However, JAMB said yesterday that results of 16,000 candidates out of the 22,395 candidates earlier withheld on account of examination malpractices have now been released. Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, told journalists in Abuja on Tuesday that the national cut-off points was jacked up from 180 last year to 170 this year to reflect the improvement in the performances of candidates in the last examination. He, however, expressed concern that some states would not be able to fill their quota of university admission in the coming academic year even if the cut off marks was to be reduced to 150. He said he had asked the various degree- awarding institutions to adopt a system of differential cut-off marks in order to bridge the gap between educationally less developed states and the others. The JAMB registrar said the differential cut-off marks for the states which will be lower than the national one were yet to be decided upon by the relevant body, adding that in arriving at a decision, the body would take into consideration how many candidates sat for the examination in such state and the performances of the candidates. Ojerinde explained that in a situation where a particular state presented only 731 candidates for the UME, there was no way such a state could meet its admission quota, even if it was given a differential cut-off marks, adding that “it’s a way of bridging the gap.” He also disclosed that additional 16000 results out of the 22, 395 earlier declared withheld by JAMB on account of examination malpractice had now been released following the decision of the relevant committee of the board to release the results. He, however, said those whose results are yet to be released will not get any result as the committee had decided that the results be cancelled. Similarly, Ojerinde said 6,000 scripts could not be scanned by the computer following the inability of the students to comply with relevant instructions on shading of the answer sheets. He regretted that parents have been besieging his office seeking for explanation for the non-release of their wards’ results, and warned that parents should not visit the sins of their children on JAMB. According to him, JAMB will now have to charge N25,000 to the production of the answer script of any candidate who insists on seeing it. “This particular script is like an art work and the candidate wants result. You can’t reap where you didnot sow, shading the correct column is part of the examination,” Ojerinde said, while producing the script of a candidate.

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HOT PHOTO: Wizkid's Son Turns 2

That Wizkid has a son is no longer news. What's news now is that the lil man turned two a few days back and Wizkid surprised him with a lot of birthday presents. Heard that despite the fact that Wizkid is not with his baby's mum, he's a great dad to Boluwatife. He even has his name tattooed on his left hand. (See photo above). See Boluwatife playing with his presents below.

Boluwatife with the presents daddy bought for him.

Boluwatife when he was much younger with his mum, Shola.

Source: Linda Ikeji

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WONDERFUL: Britain’s Smartest Family Are Nigerians?

Peter and Paula Imafidon, 9-year-old twins living at Waltham Forest in northeast London , are a part of the highest-achieving clan in the history of Great Britain education.

The two youngest siblings are about to make British history as the youngest students to ever enter high school. They astounded veteran experts of academia when they became the youngest to ever pass the University of Cambridge ’s advanced mathematics exam. That’s on top of the fact they have set world records when they passed the A/AS-level math papers.

Chris Imafidon, their father, said he’s not concerned about his youngest children’s ability to adapt to secondary school despite their tender age. “We’re delighted with the progress they have made,” he said. “Because they are twins they are always able to help and support each other.”

To Peter and Paula’s parents, this is nothing new. Chris Imafidon said he and his wife have been through this before: they have other super-gifted, overachieving children.

Peter and Paula’s sister, Anne-Marie, now 20, holds the world record as the youngest girl to pass the A-level computing, when she was just 13.

She is now studying at arguably the most renowned medical school in the United States , Johns Hopkins University , in Baltimore.

Another sister, Christina, 17, is the youngest student to ever get accepted and study at an undergraduate institution at any British university at the tender age of 11.

And Samantha, now age 12, had passed two rigorous high school-level mathematics and statistics exams at the age of 6, something that her twin siblings, Peter and Paula, also did.

Chris Imafidon migrated to London from Nigeria in West Africa over 30 years ago. And despite his children’s jaw-dropping, history-making academic achievements, he denies there is some “genius gene” in his family. Instead, he credits his children’s success to the Excellence in Education program for disadvantaged inner-city children.

“Every child is a genius,” he told British reporters.

“Once you identify the talent of a child and put them in the environment that will nurture that talent, then the sky is the limit. Look at Tiger Woods or the Williams sisters [Venus and Serena] — they were nurtured. You can never rule anything out with them. The competition between the two of them makes them excel in anything they do.”

Source: Pointblank News

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State Of Emergency – President Jonathan’s Ploy To Subvert Constitutional Democracy By Bola Tinubu

It is now abundantly clear that President Jonathan has finally bared his fangs confirming what was widely speculated. By declaring a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, he has intimidated and emasculated the governors of these States. We are witnessing a dangerous trend in the art of governance and a deliberate ploy to subvert constitutional democracy.

The body language of the Jonathan administration leads any keen watcher of events with unmistakable conclusion of the existence of a surreptitious but barely disguised intention to muzzle the elected governments of these states for what is clearly a display of unpardonable mediocrity and diabolic partisanship geared towards 2015.

Borno and  Yobe  states have been literally under armies of occupation with the attendant excruciating hardship experienced daily by the indigenes and residents of these areas. This government now wants to use the excuse of the security challenges faced by the Governors to remove them from the states considered hostile to the 2015  PDP/Jonathan project.

Let me be quick to say that this administration will be setting in motion a chain of events the end of which nobody can predict. Experience has shown clearly that actions, such as this one under consideration, often give root to radical ideologies and extremist tendencies, a direct opposite of the intended outcome of unwarranted and unintelligent meddlesomeness. The present scenario playing out in the country reminds one of the classical case of a mediocre craftsman who continually blames the tools of his trade for his serial failure but refuses to look at his pitiable state with a view to adjusting.

It has become crystal clear, even to the most incurable optimist, that the country is adrift. That the ship of the Nigerian state is rudderless is clearly evident in the consistent and continual attacks ferociously executed by elements often referred to as the insurgents in some northern states of the federation, particularly Borno and Yobe states respectively.

Indeed, no part of the country is immune from the virulent but easy attacks, veritable indices of a failing state. Unfortunately, the tenuous and uncoordinated approach adopted by this government betrays a grossly incompetent disposition which stands at variance with current realities in the country, nay the international community where acts of terrorism are engaged and contained. No Governor of a state in Nigeria is the Chief Security Officer. Putting the blame on the Governors, who have been effectively emasculated, for the abysmal performance of the government at the centre which controls all these security agencies, smacks of ignorance and mischief.

Terrorist acts are perpetrated routinely and the government at the centre appears incapable of stemming the tide of the horrendous crimes unleashed on the hapless populace. The considerable ease, with which lives and property are destroyed on a daily basis, should excite deep introspection on the part of a government truly desirous of finding a lasting solution.

The Constitution provides that the safety and welfare of citizens shall be the primary purpose of having that structure of any political leadership in the first instance. This Government, through acts of omission and commission, has fallen far short of expectation. It actively encourages schisms and all manner of divisive tendencies for parochial expediency. Ethnicity and religion become handy weapons of domination. Things have never been this bad.

The response to the pervasive chaos in the Northern region of the country has been militarisation, mass arrests and extra judicial killings by the Joint Task Force, JTF, a convenient euphemism for an army of occupation seemingly set loose on the people of the localities concerned. The tenor of the State of Emergency declared by the Federal Government yesterday portends danger for the polity. The full militarisation of security operations in these states will compound the already tense situation.

Both local and international media are awash with news of reckless attitudes of the invading forces. The fact that security operatives are killed cheaply and reprisals from the state find expressions in organised pogroms in the immediate communities is sure evidence of a government which lacks basic understanding to appreciate the enormity of the current security challenges. If development is about the people, all measures put in place for the sustenance and maintenance of the super-structure of the society must take into cognisance local contents.

It is evident from the grim experiences in recent times that this government has failed, or does not know that it is necessary for it to avail itself of the benefits accruable from exchange of ideas and notes on the latest in terms of technology and human resources among nations of the modern world, especially those which have been fighting terrorist organisations over the years, on the most effective mode of combating this menace. Technologically advanced countries of the world will never discard the idea on the need for the establishment of an effective local intelligence outfit.

Our suggestions along this path have always been met with suspicion and acerbic criticisms from both the informed and the ignorant alike. A government which stoutly defends its opposition to the decentralisation of the police force from its present over-centralised command structure is already experimenting with all manner of means patently extra-legal.

The massacres of local communities attendant upon the attacks on security agents by unknown elements will further alienate the people who should, ordinarily, partner with the government in securing their immediate environments. An army which invades a community maiming, raping and killing defenceless civilians will end up radicalising the youths whose parents and young ones have been wiped out most cowardly and recklessly. This government should concentrate more on encouraging the development of local intelligence which will, inexorably, lead to the practice of true federalism. Adopting the use of excessive force against those perceived as harbouring terrorists does not portray this government as possessing the wherewithal to find abiding solutions to the lingering security challenges.

The President’s pronouncement, which seeks to abridge or has the potential of totally scuttling the constitutional functions of Governors and other elected representatives of the people, will be counterproductive in the long run. A State of Emergency already exists in the states where JTF operates. Residents of these communities live in constant fear. Their rights are violated with impunity under the guise of searching for terrorists in their respective domains.

Hiding under some nebulous claims which border on the intractability of the security challenges posed by Boko Haram or some acclaimed traditionalists who have killed some policemen to render ineffective the constitutional powers vested in elected Governors and other representatives of the people, perceived as not amenable to manipulation for the 2015 project amounts to reducing serious issues bordering on the survival of the country to partisan politics.

Let all those who love this country genuinely advise the federal government not to tinker with the mandates of these Governors under any guise. It is a potentially destructive path to take. If security of a society is about the protection of lives and property of the citizenry, the involvement of the people is a sine qua non to effective intelligence gathering. Any measures put in place which alienate the people, in particular their elected representatives, should be considered as fundamentally defective by every right thinking person in the country.

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SHOCKING: Imo State Deputy Governor In Gay Scandal?

Newly appointed Imo state deputy governor, Prince Eze Madumere might be Homosexual. The former chief of staff to Imo state was caught in a sex romp with a male partner, Hon Uchenna Isidore Rajis, the former transitional caretaker chairman of Njaba local government Area of the state and a close aide of the state governor, Rochas Okorocha.

Hon. Rajis enstranged wife was the one who spilled the beans, she allegedly accused her Ex-hubby of indulging in a bi-sexual affair with prince Madumere.

She reportedly caught the duo in the act in January 2012 during the then fuel subsidy crisis two months after their traditional wedding in Owerri, the imo state capital. Sandra exclusively states that after the wedding ceremony, she and her husband lodged at disney hotel in Owerri and that she later took permission from her husband to visit her village.

She said on getting back to the hotel, she knocked, there was no answer, so she hit the room door and saw prince Madumere, who was then Chief of staff to Imo state Governor and her hubby came out of the bathroom naked and sweating. She further stated that none of the duo could tell her what was going on and that the incident wrecked her Marriage to Hon. Rajis, who abandoned her and her three months old son, Igwe.

”After our traditional marriage In November, 26th 2011 in Owerri, we were staying at disney Hotel, and i was responsible for the bills until January 2012, when i caught my Husband , Uchenna having sex with Prince Eze in our camp David apartment, of the hotel. Then, I was not based in Owerri, I lived outside the state. Rajis and Madumere are Homosexual partners,” she stated.

Raji and wife on wedding day

Sandra Rajis is now threatening fire and brimstone to take the matter up and fight for her son’s right having invested heavily on the marriage.

After Several failed marriages including the fourth to Sandra Uche Rajis, Hon. Rajis is now having affairs with another lady, Who is now his fifth wife, Kindness Onyebuenyi.

An guess who sponsored Hon. Rajis wedding to Kindness? Prince Madumere and it took place on saturday May 5th, 2013.

Source: Koolyarns

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For An End Game For Boko Haram, Spend Those Trillions On Education By Pat Utom

As Albert Einsten once said “We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them”. The challenge of terrorism and ostensibly faith and cult based intolerance, partly manifested in the Boko Haram insurgency, that we face in Nigeria was created at the level of ignorance. I have heard truly scholarly discussions and even in the last month at the CVL Faith and tolerance conference, the Chaplain of the University of Lagos House of Assembly spoke passionately about Islam as a religion of peace and one not opposed to Western education. That being the case the only solution is to fight ignorance with knowledge.

The top commanders of Boko Haram are not doing anything new. They do not believe that Boko or Book is Haram. If they really did would they be using Western weapons to fight? Would they be using Western media such as YouTube and other social media to communicate with journalists? Of course not. Malam Shekau was almost caught last year when he visited his wife in Kano and he escaped with the aid of a fast car, another fruit of Western Education. Thus it is safe to say that he and his top commanders are not against Western Education. Besides some of the leaders of the group are known to be University graduates. It would seem that they are revolutionaries in Boko Haram, whose goal is to overthrow the current establishment in Northern Nigeria just like their compatriots did in Somalia and their strategy in doing that is to take advantage of the massive illiteracy that is the bane of the Northern population.

This is no new strategy. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did the same thing in Cambodia. They killed the educated and targeted centers of learning for the same reason that totalitarians have been doing for millennia-the educated are more likely to rebel against tyranny!

So rather than spend trillions on security, the Federal Government has to look beyond the immediate and have a long term strategy to starve organized terrorist groups of the oxygen that feeds their fire. We must begin to educate the masses of the North so that they value their lives. Education increases their level of consciousness and when a man has a heightened level of consciousness he is no longer easily susceptible to manipulation using primordial sentiments. Education also expands the scope of how they can earn income and get to a level of self fulfilment that cannot make them available for ideologues fighting different agenda. But it should not be in the North alone. Similar levels of low literacy in parts of the south are also sources of the state of insecurity in the South East and South South. This is why I have offered a liberal perspective on Paulo Friers’s Pedagogy of the oppressed. The pedagogy of the Determined, which I have proposed, takes a community based entrepreneurial approach to activist learning that can transform and empower in a short period of time.

Last year, the government used the same argument that previous administration used which is that the funds meant to subsidize fuel is not getting to its intended target which is the poor. So instead of subsidizing fuel, Nigeria has been subsidizing corruption.

Sound logic on the face of it. So now let us flip this. Rather than subsidizing fuel (or corruption) I am not too sure that the government will face too much resistance if it says that it will henceforth subsidize education. With half of the money that we are currently spending subsidizing fuel Nigeria can offer free and qualitative education up to secondary school level, using social enterprises, faith based agencies to complement and compete with direct government funding of educational institutions.

This is the type of long term strategy that will defeat the menace of terrorism as well as increase our Gross Domestic Product because an educated people produce more, have less children and are more healthy.

There is no easy fix to fighting terrorism. Ask the Middle East, ask Somalia, ask Afghanistan. To defeat terrorism, you must look much farther ahead than the terrorists. You must target the intending terrorist in a policy of catch them young. Rather than fighting terrorism with trillions of Naira spent on security we are feeding it by causing deep hatred in the hearts of the people of certain parts of Northern Nigeria for the military. Right now many of these people cannot decide who they hate most between Boko Haram and the Joint Military Task Force (JTF). Instead we must spend trillions on education and education will do what guns and bombs cannot do-make people value their life too much to be fodder for terrorism.

It is fitting to conclude with a word on values over faith. Years ago a much respected moslem friend told me a true story of a great moslem cleric who visited the United States. Struck by the values of the people he met, he lamented the paradox of leaving a moslem country where the people do not behave like moslems and coming to this non-moslem country where they behave like moslems. What has gone awry in Nigeria is not a faith dispute but a crisis of values. And the insurgency can be curbed with education laced with the right values.

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EMERGENCY RULE: It Is Political Victimisation - CPC

The National Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Engr. Buba Galadima Wednesday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of  politically victimising Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States by declaring state of emergency.

Galadima alleged that the affected states were opposed to the style of leadership by Jonathan, because they did not support his 2011 election ambition.

Galadima said: ”Our reaction is simply that we issued a statement yesterday, PDP and its government said that we are rumour mongers, that there was nothing in place, and now it stands out that we are right that the president was considering declaring state of emergency. In the course of the president’s broadcast, he made mention of some certain states, and most of these states are known to be politically opposed to his style of leadership.

“The states that the president imposed state of emergency are the states that did not support him in his 2011 elections. And from the broadcast the president is giving up himself order than security of lives and property for all intents and purposes that he did not secure before this state of emergency, and those soldiers do not have absolute authority in those states without interferences from the civil authority his 2010 ambition.

“It is our hope that the president is not using this state of emergencies in some of these states that are not in support of his policies to settle political scores. We are also afraid that the security agencies will not go out of their way to use this state of emergency as a licence to maim, kill and wipe out communities that the president himself feels is opposed to his political ambition. It is our hope that security agencies.

He said the action of soldiers sent by the federal government in these states led to the spate of insurgence experienced in the country, whereby they decided to pick up arms against the government.

“The insecurity was not caused by the so-called Boko Haram, but by the government who were killing people to make them to pick arms against government. This is my standard as somebody from Borno and Yobe. My people has been short-changed and killed arbitrarily.

“If the government continue to do what they have been doing they will make more enemies for themselves. No soldier has the right to shoot above the hips according the rules of engagement. We asked government to dialogue with them and they refused.

“I advised government on June 9, 2009, that they have no option than to dialogue with this people, but  they refused until when it was too late, then they over stepped their bounds by killing innocent people,” Galadima stated.

Source: Vanguard

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